Metallic railroad-tie.



W. N. SEWELL. METALLIC RAILROAD TIE. v APPLICATION FILED 91:0;12, 1 91a.l, Patented 0013. 13, 1914.

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W. N. SEWBLL.

METALLIC RAILROAD TIE.

APPLIOATIONI'ILED DBQ. 12 1913.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

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WILLIAM N. SEWELL, or wmonnsrnannnrucxv.

METALLIC RAILROAD-TIE.

:Speeification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. December 12, 1913. Serial No. 806,341.

To all whom it may concern H 1 .Be it known that 1, WILLIAM N. SEWELL, acitizen of the United States, residing at Winchester, in the county ofClark and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in MetallicyRailroad- Ties; and I do hereby declare the.followlng to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in cross ties, and an objectofthe invention 1s to provlde a cross t1e formed of mterlocking membersso arranged and proportioned that as the load increases upon therail thetie will serve to grip the samem'ore tightly.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tie which shall haveformed integral therewith or secured thereto, means for engaging theflange of the ra1l,.the said" means being disposed so as to cooperatewith inclined portions of the cross tie for assist ing the action oflocking the tie and rail. A further object of the invention is, toprovide a tie of such construction as will enable ballast to be locatedwithin the tie and serve to form a permanent part of the road bed aswell as Support and strengthen the cross tie.

With these and other objects in'view the invention comprises certainnovel constructions, combinations and arrangements" of,

parts as will be hereinafter more fully 'described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference charactersdesignate corresponding parts: Figure l'shows a perspective view of onehalf of the tie; Fig. 2 shows a perspective view: of the other half 01":the tie cooperating with the half shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a top planview of the two halves shown in Figs. 1 and 2 assembled and ready forthe reception of the rail; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the tie afterthe same has been expanded from the position shown in Fig. 3 after thereception of the; rail; Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a. modifiedview of oneend of the tie member; Fig. 6 is a perspective view showingan assembled tie having a modified form ofsecuring means for holding therail to the tie; Fig. 7 is a perspective detail view showing the bottomof one of the locking devices shown in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a perspectiveviewgof a locking and sliding member which may be used in connectionwith themodification shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 19 is a perspective View ofthe form of lockingpin associated with the pin shown in Fig. 7 as usedin the modification shown in Fig. 6.

The general aim of the presentinvention .is to provide a crosstleforrrallroad construction which shall consist of two substantiallycomplementarily formed halves having co-acting inclined -planes. formedthereon and having rail locking members either integral or secured tothe halves and" so disposed that when theco-acting inc-lined planemembers are brought in contact and the halves slipped together, the raillocking means will be spaced to receive a rail, after which theseparation of the halves will result in the permanent gripping of therail by the locks. i i

Referring more particularly to the draw:

ings it will be seen that one-half of the tie .is composed of a plateliorming'the top, of.

Patented. Oct. 13, 1914. i

the half from which depends a flange 2 designed to-form one edge 'ofthecompleted tie, and in order to facilitate the assembly of the the thereis provided an elevated pJor- )tiOn S-formed in the top l and a secondelevated portion 4 "at the end, these raised portions being formed bystriking the same in a die or in any .other'suitable manner and beingformed merely for the matter of con- L-venience in assembling. Extendingabout half way more orless through plate 1 and at an angle tothe sidesthereof is an in1-.

clinedslot 5, one side ofwhich is formed by theed ge 6 of the centrallyelevated portion 8, while the other edge is formed by the lowersection?- of the top plate '1.

Spaced from the slot 5 and extending. within"the .lower section 7substantially 'as shown in Fig. 1 is an opening 8 havinga wall "9inclined with respect to the-sides of top plate 1, said wall 9 alsobeing at an angle to thefslot 5. Iif desired, the wall?) may merge intothe portion 10 substantially parallel to the sides of the plate 1 andter min'ate in a; pocket 11, the walls 9 and 10 continuing to form-aninclined edge 12, de-

ifining with. the unfianged edge of the plate 1 a stud 13. Upturned fromthe plate 1 and adjacent inclinededge 9 is a rail flange lock.

14 provided with an overhang. 15 adapted to catch the flange of therailand provided with a vertical" portion l6,"the purpose of which willbedescribed hereinafter. With the exception of the raised, portion 4,the

lends of'the half shown in Fig. 1 are identical and no furtherdescription of the same is deemed necessary. Referring now to Fig. 2

it will be seen that the other half of the cross tie comprises a plate1'? which may be formedflat without elevated or offset portions or itmay be formed identical with the half shownin Fig. 1 and, each with anaggregation of offsets and having depending I therefrom a 18 whichserves to form the .otherside of the tie. Located centrally with respectto the length of the plate 17 and extending about half way across theplate is a slot 19, the walls of which are substantially parallel to thewalls of slot when the "two sections orhalves are assembled. Spaced fromthe slot. 19 is a stud 20 zdefined by an opening 21 formed in the tegralwith the plate 17, but extending above the inclined edge 24, is alocking device 25 having an overhang 26 and a vertical edge 27 adaptedto engage the inclined edge 12 of the plate 1. The formation of the twoends of the plate 17 isiden'tica'l and the. description of one willsufiice for both.

. I When-it is desired to assemble the tie, in

ordento place the samein a road bed, the two halves will be interlockeduntil the raised portions 3 and 4: of the plate 1 over- I hang thecorresponding portions of theplate 17, the end 28 of the plate 17,however, being formed so as to overlap the corresponding end plate 1. Inorder to, accomplish this it be necessaryto offset the end 28 exceptwhen the two halves are formed identical and "have corresponding offsetsor deflected portions, It will be noted that when the two halves are inrelative position, shown in Fig. 3, the locking devices 14 carried bythe plate 1 and the corresponding locking devices 25 carried bythe'plate'17 are spaced apart in .maximuni distances, this distancebeing suflicient to receive the flange of the rail. It will beunderstoodthat in order to assemble the halves as shownin Fig. 3, the studs 20will be placedv behind the locking devices 14;

and the studs '13 will be placed in front of the locking devices 25, itbeing understood that the vertical sides 16 will engage the inclinededges 22 and plate 17 while vertical edges 27 will engage the inclinededge 12 of the plate 1, so that as the plates are pushed together theyare moved at an angle to the axis of the tie. After the rail has beenmounted upon the cross tie so that the overhanging portions 26 and 15engage the flanges of the rail, these halves may be spaced by fillingthesam'e with any suitable ballast, as by earth, rock or other materialused for constructing the bed of a road, and

lockin devices have securel f ri )ed b the rail. It is apparent thateach time a load is placed upon a track, or rail, as by the passage of atrain, the tie will be depressed and the natural consequence will bethat the ballast Within will be depressed, so as to expand against theflanges 2 and 18, which will result in the separation of the halves ofthe cross tie, but it will be understood, as previously described, thatthis separation will result in a more firm gripping of the rail by meansof the locking devices 141- and 25. (See Fig. t).

The modified form of the invention, shown in Fig. 5, consists in bendingout of place certain portions of the material which are entirely removedfrom the preferred form of the invention and other features described.Thus, the material forming the plate 29 is cut and has a portion thereofbent downwardly as at 30 suflicicntly to pass under the upturned portion31 which serves as the rail locking device and has its sliding portioninclined, instead of being vertical as described in the preferred form.It will be understood that Fig. 5 shows one end of one-half of a tie. Aportion of the metal forming the plate 29 is bent down to form the lip32 which serves to reinforce the portion of the plate carrying thelocking device 31. There is also provided a stud 33 used for purposesanalogous to the corresponding studs used in the preferred form, andthere is further provided an inclined plane or edge 34: which engagesthe locking device formed on the other half. Struck up from the plate 29on each end thereof is a plug 35 which may serve to form an additionallocking device for the rail, and it will be understood that as thehalves of the tie move laterally with respectto each other, at the sametime that they move apart the locks 35 will act in the same capacity asthe locking devices 31 to grip the rail more firmly. Another featureshown in Fig. 5, consists in deflecting or slightly bending downwardthat portion of the tie carrying the rail locking devices 31 and 35; andalso in de fleeting or slightly bending upward that portion of the tiecarrying the stud 33 and inclined plane 34:, to facilitate the assemblyof the tie.

still. further modification of the invention is shown in Fig. 6, Wherethere are provided halves 36 and 37 having respectively flanges 38 and39. The half 36 has the upper part thereofprovided with a plurality ofslots lOdisposed at an angle to the sides of the plate on oneend of thehalf, while the opposite end of the other half 37 is provided with aplurality of openings 41.

Fig. 7 shows a bottom perspective of a lock 42 having a body 43 providedwith an overhang 4A and having a depending lug 45, the sides of whichare disposed at an angle to the sides of the body 43 and are designed tofit within-the slots 40 and ll. One of these rail locking members issecured to one end of the half 37, while the other member is secured tothe other end of the half 36, but it will of course be understood thatany number of these rail locking devices may be applied to any one crosstie, where it is desired to use the tie in connection with switches orcrossing tracks, and preferably, though not necessarily, the lockingdevices shown at 4-2 engage the outer edge of the rail.

While the locking devices 42 are secured upon one of the halves of thetie, the corresponding locking devices or rail gripping lock 46 iscarried by the corresponding end of the other half of the rail tie, thelock 4t6 being shown in detail in Fig. 9, where it will,

be seen that the body t? has projecting therefrom an overhang 48 and ashank 4:9 which may be provided with any suitable means for securing thesame to the tie half carrying the same, or the shank may be rolled orriveted to the half to which it is secured. If for any reason it shouldnot be desirable to use shank 49 there may be provided through the body47 a bore 49 substantially parallel to the vertical edges of the lock 46which may receive any suitable locking means secured to the cross tie.The holes in the halves of the tie indicated at 50 and 51 may be formedat the time the halves are manufactured and if desired additionalopenings or holes may be provided so that in the event of a break of oneof the locking devices a second one may be inserted in one of theadditional holes.

As shown in Fig. 8, there may be provided locking means having a base 52and an upright 53 extending therefrom provided with overhang 54: thebase being provided with an opening 55 for the reception of any suitablemeans for securing the auxiliary locking means to one or any of thehalves of the tie, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 8, 4 and 5. Also, as shown at56, it will be entirely possible to extend the upper plate of the halvesso that the same may be bent over to prevent escape of the ballast.

It will be apparent from the tie described herein that there is nopossibility of the sec- I tions becoming disassembled While the rail isin place, andthat asthe load is applied to the rails the tie will expandseats to cover a greaterportion of the road bed and there foredistribute the weight, and all thatis necessary to remove the tie fromthe rail is to jack the rail up until the halves of the tie are abovethe contained ballast, after which it will be a simple matter to drawthe halves together, at which time the cam or inclined plane action willbe suchas to separate the securing means for holdingthe rail and thehalves may be removed for any desirable. purpose. p

What I claim is: 1.. A cross tie comprising complementarlly formedsections inclined planes formedon the complementary sections and railgripping projections secured to each ofsaid sections and adapted toengage the corresponding inclined. planes of the other section. 2. Across tie comprising two complementarily formed interlocking, sections,inclined planes formed on each of said sections, rail gripping projectionsextending from each of said sections and adapted to engage thecorresponding inclined planes ofthe other section, andmeans for movingthe two sections longitudinally as said sections are drawn together. y

1 3. i A cross tie comprising complementarily formed sections, each ofsaid sections being provided with an inclined slot extendingsubstantially one halfthe width of the section, portions of each of saidsections adapt ed to engage the inclined slots of the-other section,andrail-gripping means carried by each of said sections.

4:. A cross tie comprising complementarily formed sections, meansadaptedto move said sections longitudinally relative to one an,- otheras said sections aredrawn together, and rail-gripping means rigid withthe sections adapted to approach each other as the sections are drawnapart. v 5. A cross tie comprlsmg interengaglng sections adapted toapproach and recede one i from the other, rail-gripping means carried bythe sections, said sections adapted to draw the rail-gripping meanstogether as the sections recede from each other.

6. A cross tie comprising complementary sections, substantially paralleledges provided on each cross tie section inclined to the length of thecross tie section, rail gripping means formed on each cross tie sectionadapted to engage the inclined edges of the other cross tie section andmeans for moving the cross tie sections longitudinally with respect toeach other as they are separated, w

said rail. gripping means engaging the in clined portions as the crosstie sections separate. v v i 7. A railroad cross tie comprising complementarily formed sections substantially parallel inclined edges formedon each section,

' an inclined slot formed intermediate the inresponding inclined recessin the other sectlon, rail gripping means carried on each of thesections, the ra1l gripping means for of the U-fralne are separated.

In testimony whereof I afilx my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM N SEWELL. Witnesses R. O. FITCH, R. C. PREWITT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

any one rail adapted to approach as the sides 1'

